Isabella Street
| Isabella Street | |
|---|---|
| Neighborhood | North Shore |
Isabella Street appears in the 1830 map of Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon.[1]
Bob Regan includes "Isabella" in a list of streets named for noted historical people, but with no further details.[2] It is not clear who is meant—perhaps Regan thought of Queen Isabella I of Castile (1451–1504), who, with her husband Ferdinand II, unified Spain and supported Christopher Columbus's 1492 expedition to the New World. However, there is no evidence for such a connection, and it is probably more likely that the street was named for someone local. Unfortunately, so far I have been unable to find a plausible candidate.
In the 1830 map, Isabella Street appears in a plan of lots labeled "McDonald."[1] The land had originally been out lots 37 and 38 in the Reserve Tract, surveyed by David Redick in 1787.[3] The out lots were subdivided into smaller lots, and several streets and alleys were laid out, by John McDonald in March 1830.[4] This was probably the attorney John McDonald, the only person by that name listed in Samuel Jones's 1826 Pittsburgh directory.[5]
John McDonald was born on July 1, 1781, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, the third son of John and Martha Noble McDonald.[6][7] He entered Jefferson College (then called Canonsburg Academy) in 1800 and graduated from there in 1904.[6][7] He married Mary Morrow in 1804.[6] He read law under James Ross (eponym of Ross Street) and was admitted to the bar in 1807.[6][7] He was elected president of the Bank of Pittsburgh in 1829.[6][8] McDonald died in Pittsburgh on May 20, 1831.[6][8][9][7] After his death, a notice placed in the Pittsburgh Gazette by his executors advertised for sale "a great variety of LOTS in Birmingham and Allegheny-Town."[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jean Barbeau and Lewis Keyon. Map of Pittsburgh and Its Environs. N. B. Molineux, Pittsburgh, 1830. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0576; https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/36c3ab00-57aa-0136-8f4f-08990f217bc9. [view source] barbeau
- ↑ Bob Regan. The Names of Pittsburgh: How the city, neighborhoods, streets, parks and more got their names, p. 63. The Local History Company, Pittsburgh, 2009, ISBN 978-0-9770429-7-5. [view source] regan
- ↑ Reserve Tract of Land Opposite Pittsburgh. L. J. Richards & Co., 1863. Historic Pittsburgh DARMAP0084. Reprinted in Dan Rooney and Carol Peterson, Allegheny City: A history of Pittsburgh's North Side, pp. 2–3, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, 2013, ISBN 978-0-8229-4422-5 (LCCN 2012047727). A variation entitled City of Allegheny 100 Years Ago is reprinted in Allegheny City Society, Allegheny City, 1840–1907, pp. 10–11, Images of America, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S. C., 2007, ISBN 978-0-7385-5500-3 (LCCN 2007927944). [view source] reserve-tract
- ↑ Mercer v. Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, 36 Pa. 99 (1859). https://cite.case.law/pa/36/99/. In Pennsylvania State Reports: Comprising cases adjudged in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, vol. XXXVI, pp. 99–104, Kay & Brother, Philadelphia, 1861 (Google Books O_8_AAAAYAAJ). [view source] mercer-v-pfwc
- ↑ Samuel Jones. Pittsburgh in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-Six: Containing sketches topographical, historical and statistical; together with a directory of the city, and a view of its various manufactures, population, improvements, &c. Johnston & Stockton, Pittsburgh, 1826, p. 133. DonsList.net PGH_ALLEGH1826_CDM; Historic Pittsburgh 31735056290285; Internet Archive Pgh1826. [view source] jones
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Milton M. Allison. "Robinson Run Sketches: III. Pioneers John and Martha McDonald." Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 36, no. 1, Mar. 1953, pp. 37–51. https://journals.psu.edu/wph/article/view/2429. [view source] allison
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Twentieth Century Bench and Bar of Pennsylvania, vol. 2, p. 814. H. C. Cooper, Jr., Bro. & Co., Chicago, 1903. Google Books JkRGAQAAMAAJ; Internet Archive twentiethcentury02chic, twentiethcentury02unse_0. [view source] twentieth-2
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 History of Pittsburgh and Environs, vol. 2, p. 291. American Historical Society, New York and Chicago, 1922. Google Books 3staAAAAYAAJ, TPUMAAAAYAAJ; HathiTrust 011262563; Internet Archive historypittsbur00yorkgoog, historypittsbur02socigoog. [view source] history-pgh-environs-2
- ↑ "Died." Pittsburgh Gazette, May 24, 1831, [p. 3]. Newspapers.com 96050895. [view source] mcdonald-obit
- ↑ Joseph Patterson and Stephen Colwell. "Notice.—All persons indebted to the estate of John M'Donald, Esq. late of the city of Pittsburgh, deceased, are requested to make payment to the subscribers; and all persons having claims on the estate, will present them to us for settlement." Pittsburgh Gazette, May 31, 1831, [p. 3]. Newspapers.com 96050918. [view source] patterson-colwell
